Just a month ago, college football was on the verge of monumental upheaval. Instead, there was an earthquake, but not massive damage. The Big 12 survived with a flesh wound and it appeared all would settle down until next summer.
Then word came out Wednesday that BYU was looking to become a football independent and would leave the Mountain West Conference. Suddenly the ground began shifting again. While this isn’t a seismic shift, it does indicate how fragile college football’s footing is.
If the Cougars become an independent in football and move back to the WAC for all other sports, suddenly the Mountain West could fold. Boise State is said to be ready to back out of joining the Mountain West and come back to the WAC.
Just a month ago, BYU thought they might get invited to join the Pac-10. Instead, Utah got the offer, but the Mountain West was still on the verge of possibly becoming a BCS conference if the Big 12 had folded.
In short order the Mountain West could be totally irrelevant while BYU tries to become the Notre Dame of the west with their own TV network. Something they can easily do considering the Morman church, which owns the school, already has BYU-TV and it is set to go HD, making it possible to expand their brand as an independent and make much more than the $1.5 million in TV rights they’d get in the Mountain West.
The Cougars won’t likely get the preferred path to BCS bowl games that Notre Dame gets, but it looks like they’ve made the decision it’s worth the risk to go it alone.
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